Donna's Awakening
by XtomJames
Summary: Donna regains her memories sometime after the Doctor left her "blank" and has to race to Torchwood to save herself.
1. Parts I and II

Donna's Awakening

_Donna Noble…there you are, I knew you'd come. Who am I? Oh…well…you know_

_Come on! The Cybermen are attacking, we need to stop them. _

_Dalek Kon...Davros…The Tardis…_

Donna awoke with a start, the voice ringing in her head for what seemed to be the umpteenth night in a row. "Who are you…dream boy…just…FEGH"

She put her feet on the floor and pushed up, a twinge of dizziness about her, and she stumbled down the hall to the bathroom.

"Who are you?" She said to the mirror, looking deeply into her own eyes as if the answers were there. The clock on the wall read two thirty in the morning. She shuffled into the kitchen and began to make tea. Looking out of the window and up the hill she saw her Grandfather star gazing.

Taking her steaming tea she put on her over coat and boots, and walked up the hill to greet him.

"Up late again I see?"

"Oh yer know us old folk can' live forever…got to take the time we have."

"Seen anything int'resting? That blue box yo off talking about, ya?"

"Er…no, not tonight, but Venus is well on the horizon. Maybe she'lla bring me a good loving…"

"Oh stop it…yo'r too old"

"I'm as spry as I ever was, you'd be best ta remember tha'."

"I've been having those dreams again…they're like almost real. I can feel him nagging, granddad…who is he?"

Donna's grandfather looked at her sourly, almost repulsed, yet his eyes looked dark, almost loping. The sullen expression, sudden as it was, disappeared as he turned away.

"Just a figment of your imagination…best not to think of it love, it will only darken your life…don't get carried away with it, it's just a dream." He sat back down at his telescope and groped for his canister full of tea. Donna stood for a moment, before setting the cuppa down beside him and walked down the hill.

_Who are you? So you're Donna, nice to finally meet you…This is a warpstar…_

_Haustenhaugen key will blow up the Earth, it was only meant be used in the most dire of situations, if Mankind was suffering so much…No…Don't…What's a Haustenhagen Key, obviously something named after a person named Haustenhagen…_

_Doctor Donna…Doctor Donna…The loss that is yet to come…I'm So sorry…_

Donna awoke again, the sound of her seven am alarm buzzing loudly. She slapped her hand out knocking the clock to the floor and rose sullenly. "Damned Space Man…."

The Shower was warm and the fresh snow outside glistened through the window. It was two days from Christmas and she was unfortunately signed up to work the holiday rush as a temp at Dorothy Perkins. It was more or less a mad dash this time of year, with the preChristmas sales.

She dried her self off and put on her robe. Looking in the mirror she smiled at her self before pulling out her toothbrush. The radio was on in the kitchen and she could hear it through the air vent "hurry, hurry, hurry, the big end of the year sale Burton's menswear _whrrerrwhrrer_…" _It's a sonic screwdriver…_ Donna blinked as the sound vanished…"Sonic screwdriver…what are you thinking…"

It was a quarter past eight when she finally arrived at the store, it opened at nine and the mad dash would be on. This was the worst day other than Boxing Day. All the sale signs were blue Christmas boxes wrapped in gold ribbon and the banner across the door read "Blue Box Sale"

_It's a Blue Box, sailing through the sky, Granddad, if you see it, tell me…_

The day went steadily on, people whining and complaining, asking questions about products that she didn't know a thing about. It was just after one pm, her boss had voided all lunches for yet another mad rush of costumers, and she was feeling light headed. A young man came up to her holding two different braziers, "Sorry, miss, you're about my girlfriends size could you hold these up, I'm not sure if they'd fit."

"Do I look like model to you? What if your girlfriend was here right now, saw you asking me to pose…would she like that?" She waved him off and turned to her adviser who was just sitting there jabbering on his keypad texting away. "Look, I'm hungry, I'm tired, I'm getting lunch and taking a break! You can do some of the work around here…" The adviser looked up, his twenty something face surprised by the out burst. Before he could say one word she was out from behind the counter and nearly out of ear shot amidst the streaming throng of people.

By the time she had reached the back of the store where the worker's break room was located she had been bustled, beaten, ravaged or felt up she wasn't sure which, and was more or less out of breath. Leaning against the wall, breathing hard, she noticed two of her fellow workers struggling with a carrier of boxes.

"Hey you, help us would you…"

"Do I look like I'm working right now?"

"Get over here, that box is about to fall."

"Fine…" Donna pushed off the wall and strode over to carrier, and in a blink of an eye slipped in a puddle of water where a sign should have been cracking her head on the floor. The room swam before her eyes, as a box tumbled to the ground and the two workers that had been pushing the carrier hurried to her side.

"Are you ok…uh…Donna?"

"Ged off…ged off…ow my wip….my head…"

"You shouldn't move, you might have a concussion…call nine nine nine, get a medic would you…" The other man quickly walked into the break room to retrieve his cell and began to call for an ambulance.

"Look, how many fingers _am…we don't have time, its either the world, or Pompeii…_

'_is this what you do, make decisions like this', 'it's the burden of a Timelord to see what was, what is, what will be, and what should not, and would never be…'_

are you there, hello how many fingers am I holding up?"

"How should I bloody know, it's your hand…"

"The doctors are on their way…"

"Doctor…doctor, doctor, doctor…"

"What's wrong with her…"

"Concussion I'm sure of it…"

The paramedics arrived and bundled her up on a gurney. It was not long before she was out of the department store and on her way to the hospital. In the ambulance Donna's head filled with images, hundreds of them, recapping all that she knew of the Doctor.

"Doctor…Doctor…Doctor…Doctor…"

"She has a concussion from a blow to the head, slipped. We're going to need an open bay…no repetition, keeps saying Doctor." The Paramedic radio went silent and the sirens continued to whir.

"Doctor…Doctor…Doctor…Oh My GOD….DOCTOR!" Donna started to thrash, trying to get off the gurney.

"Calm down miss, what's your name, can you tell me where you are, your age?" The second paramedic tried to hold Donna's arms down as she thrashed even harder…

"No…no no…I don't have time for this, LET…ME…GO…"

"Just calm down, we'll be to the hospital soon…"

"I can't go to the hospital…I need to go to Torchwood…"

It was an instance of anger that flared and Paramedic was pushed up against the side of the ambulance, terrified.

"Release me…" Donna said forcibly. The paramedic responded by releasing her from the gurney. "Now, take me to Cardiff." The driver's eyes glazed over as he took the next exit, which headed North West, and towards Cardiff.

It was hours before they reached Cardiff and Donna was feeling weak from the unintended control she had pushed on the two paramedics. When the reached the Millennium Hall, she release the two and they fell limp. The ambulance stopped short of empty and she got out. The scrape on the back of her head which had been bleeding was raked with scabs that itched which distracted her briefly as she realized the number of people staring at her. With out much more than a moment's hesitation she bolted, running towards the one entrance she knew of.

****

Jack Harkness scanned the monitors. He was the last one in Torchwood for the weekend, all the others had gone to be with loved ones, save for Ianto who was sleeping soundly after a brief romp in the medical bay. Jack smiled for a moment then turned his attention to the screen again. "What the…who is…no…Donna?"

He clasped his hands for a moment, sighed, and then pressed the button to lower the elevator.

With out even trying, only hoping, Donna thought she had made the elevator move. No one seemed to notice as she descended into the sidewalk. The room was like the memory she had, only less alive. The smell of weevil and warped time filled her nostrils.

"If it isn't Donna Noble…but aren't you supposed to be, you know, not aware of us?"

"I…Jack…I need your help, not enough time to explain…the memories came back. I was dreaming, the Doctor, he was there in my head. Then I fell at work, temping down at the women's outlet store in London, hit my head. And here I am, all Doctor Donna again. But there's a problem…"

"Yes, the metacrisis, it shouldn't exist with a human, you're going to die, unless we can remove the memories again."

"No…no no no, I'm not losing them again. But don't you remember, human imagination with Timelord know how…I got the idea…I can fix the problem, but I need the laser screwdriver the Master had."

"Yeah…so you can use it to what, it only ages people…or deages…"

"It's a genetic manipulator…with the right programming…"

"It can make you into a full Timelord...right I'm on it…" Jack rushed into his office and opened the hidden door that held his temporal stasis vault. Clicking through the options he picked a slot and poked his hand inside. Rummaging about briefly he pulled out the laser screwdriver.

"Alright Donna, here…but what if it doesn't work?"

"It has too."

Donna set the laser screwdriver down on the desk and ran several wires to it from the super computer. Setting her self down she began to type, faster than she could remember

_Best temp in London, did you know I could type two hundred words a minute…_

A few minutes later a streaming program was running, sluggishly, on the computer.

"Now we wait, the program has to upload to the screwdriver to reconfigure it to change my DNA."

Five hours later, Donna was feeling the effects; every other word was a repeat. She could hardly speak by the time the upload was complete.

"Jack Jack Jack Jack….You…You…got to….to…Do it…it…it…quick…quick…quickly…"

"Ok…hold on…" Jack pointed the screwdriver at her and squeezed the trigger hard, a greenish light shot out just as Ianto came into the room, shirtless and drowsy, "What the bloody hell is going on?" In the span of his sentence the process was complete.

"Stay back, Ianto, I don't know what the effects of this will be."

"Who is that?"

"Donna Noble…"

Donna looked up, for a moment breathless, then she looked at Jack, "It didn't work…I…I…I…feel strange…GUH!" She buckled over and squirmed on the floor as the sound of her hearts thudded loudly in her ears. _A Timelord Human metacrisis has never been before today, because it can't be…_

Gold light shot from her eyes and mouth, from her hands and feet and in a few mere moments she regenerated. The red hair was now blue black, the Cockney Irish round face was replaced by a younger narrower one.

"Did I regenerate? That's odd, my voice is different…Nooo…really, look at me I'm a Timelord…Timelordess…right…" Donna twirled about for a moment her old clothes hanging loosely off of her.

"Donna…let me check something…" Jack came up to her and placed his ear to her chest…

"What is it pretty boy, going to hug me?"

"Two hearts…there is really two hearts…that's…impossible…"

Part II-Donna is a Nuisance

"So, what do you think? It's been awhile since I fit into a size six…well I've never fit into a size six…I wonder if they have negative numbers on Roxicoricofallapatorius, have you seen them, hu-uge…."

Jack starred wide eyed as Donna murmured on…

"Do you mind if I keep the laser screwdriver, I mean honestly a Time Lord without a screwdriver or a TARDIS isn't a Time Lord at all. Wait does that mean I get my own TARDIS …I bet I can show him a thing or two…"

"Donna, he's not here…"

Jack stood up and walked over to the computer console,

"…besides even if we wanted to track him we couldn't. His hand is gone and the rift has been closed."

"Nah, what are you whining about, bullocks that's all. You have the rift manipulator; we can jump around as we want. Or we could accelerate the TARDIS you're growing."

Donna touched the rift generator, the new set of clothes she had borrowed from Gwen's emergency stash fit well.

"You mean funnel the Rift energy into the TARDIS?"

Ianto looked back and forth from Donna and Jack, as Jack shook his head.

"No, we can't do that; we'd be risking opening another rift in time and space which could release untold havoc. Last time the Earth was almost destroyed and we don't need that again."

"Ah but last time you didn't have me…"

She came up to Jack and pushed up close to him. Ianto flushed with a brief moment of jealousy as she brushed her hands through Jack's hair.

"Come on wonder boy, give it a try, you might like it…"

Her lips pursed for a moment before walking past him to the computer bay and started up a different program.

"Not to put a spike in this entire 'accelerate the growth of the TARDIS' idea, but how are you going to do that with the rift?"

Jack stepped back, not sure what she was doing as she typed quickly on the keyboard.

Ianto puzzled for a moment looked at Jack,

"She said you're growing a TARDIS …she didn't mean the Doctor's TARDIS …Jack, when were you going to tell us?"

"It wasn't you're concern, you'd be all long dead by the time it was finished."

Jack didn't look to Ianto, but instead concentrated harder on the computer screen.

"Aren't you forgetting something, Donna, the Doctor has that mobile phone, you could just call him."

"I thought of that, no guarantee he still has it. He doesn't like to get calls out of the blue…and the psychic paper. Hmmm…."

Donna stopped typing for a moment, and then began again. It wasn't long before the computer was digesting the input that Donna had rapidly dispensed to it.

"I can use the rift manipulator to extend my psychic thoughts to his paper, much easier than getting your TARDIS to grow…"

"And you can get him back here?"

Ianto fiddled for a moment with a few things on the desk, placing used cups on to a tray.

"…tea?"

"Yeah that'd be lovely, don't just stand there skinny boy…" Donna smirked.

Jack looked at Ianto with a slightly amused expression on his face. "Come on skinny boy," he said, "the Time Lord-ess is waiting…"

Ianto walked off to clean the mugs. Jack looked on briefly before tuning back to Donna,

"So what exactly are you doing?"

"Come on Jackie...Jack… Jack…it's not that hard. I use the rift manipulator to send a psychic message to the Doctor's psychic paper where ever he is in time or space. Simple, yah?"

"Right well, have at it…"

Jack stood back against his better judgment as Donna clicked the 'ok' button on the screen. The rift manipulator whirred for a moment as Donna grabbed a hold of a handle Jack had never seen before. Seconds later the generator ended its cycle and Donna blinked in amusement.

"Time vortex energy gives such a rush doesn't it…"

Jack said bemused at the look on Donna's face.

"Woo…like having sex but even better…I really hope this time lord stuff doesn't go to my head…"

Donna started to jump up and down shaking off the feeling of tingles running up and down her spine. With a convulsion she lurched forward and was on her hands and knees.

Jack ran to her just as Ianto entered the room with a tray of tea.

"Help me with her!"

"What…wait…" Ianto placed the tray on the desk and ran to Jack's side.

"Grab her left arm I've got the right…"

The two of them walked her over to a chair and sat her up right. Her head lulled back and her eyes went up into their sockets.

"Bio-scanner! Call Martha…"

Jack bellowed as Ianto was already heading to the autopsy room for the scanner.

Moments later Jack was scanning Donna as Ianto was on direct line to Martha Jones at Unit.

Minutes later the rift activity monitor sounds an alarm as a spot of rift energy blooms on the screen. "Ianto…what is it?!"

"Its some sort of activity we haven't seen before…huge, it's right on top of us…"

Ianto was interrupted by the familiar whir of the TARDIS. Jack stood and walked over to it, mouth slightly agape.

"It worked…he got the message." Ianto turned to Jack, "I guess what ever Donna did to the computer system allowed it to detect the TARDIS."

Several more warnings appeared now popping all over the screen and in different colors.

"It looks like its tracking him everywhere in time…when and where ever he was ever here it's on the screen…" Ianto blinked in astonishment.

"It's a clever bit of programming…" said a voice not too unfamiliar to Jack.

Jack looked around the corner of the TARDIS where a young, brooding, Doctor now stood.

"Where's Donna, I got the message"

The Doctor held up the psychic paper.

"She's over there," Jack said, pointing to the autopsy table,

"I think something went wrong with the regeneration after she made herself into a full Time Lord…"

The Doctor took a cup of the now cooled tea and brought it over to Donna.

"Come on Donna, we both know you're a fighter, drink it up."

The Doctor held her head up and cradled it, slowly letting the tea touch her lips.

After a few sips her eyes fluttered open to meet the Doctor's gaze straight on.

"You came…You Left Me!"

Donna sat bolt up and slapped him across the face.

"You Left Me…wiped my memories and LEFT ME…"

"I know Donna…there was no other way…well obviously there was but I didn't know at the time. But look at you, that Time Lord Human mind of yours, it figured it out."

Donna blushed for a moment before she realized he had regenerated himself.

"You're young…like Nicholas Hoult young…what happened, how'd you regenerate, why? I thought you didn't want to change…"

"It's a long story, Donna. But for now you need to rest, your regeneration hasn't finished yet and the genetic change is wreaking havoc with your body, your second heart isn't even fully grown yet."

Donna nodded at his instructions, and lay back down on the table and closed her eyes.

The Doctor came out of the little pit to find Jack staring.

"Wa'ell look at you, you've gotten cute in your old age…go on twirl around." Jack smiled chuckling slightly.

The Doctor gave him the evil eye before blushing,

"Oh yes, well at least you don't know what you look like in fourteen billion years."

The Doctor winked as Ianto came around the hub.

"Jack…Martha won't be able to get here any time soon, Unit says she is somewhere in South America investigating the disappearance of a….who's that?"

"Ianto Jones, meet the Doctor."

Jack said as he crossed his arms and bounced on the balls of his feet.


	2. PartIII edited

Part III: Donna's Awakening…Again…

The blue box stood in the middle of the hub, or at least as near to it as it could be with the rift manipulator towering where it did. A gentle hum resonated between the TARDIS and the manipulator, a low brass C that was hardly audible if everyone was quiet. This same hum awoke the now fully regenerated Donna Noble, who now sat up in to a groggy sense of what had just happened.

"Doctor?" She said, as she pulled her feet over the edge of the autopsy table.

The TARDIS glowed in the dark of the main room, its windows a light as she had remembered them.

"Doctor, where are you?"

She pulled herself up and stood, the bulge of the laser screwdriver poking her in her rear end made a sort of cracking sound, and she realized she had just broken the tip off its end.

"Buggering'ell, now I've got to fix you. Doctor…Doctor?"

She pulled out the screwdriver to look at the damage. The golden laser emitter the Master had used had splintered and cracked, and the shaft had partway bent up.

Laughter emanated from the TARDIS as she approached. The low C became louder as she touched the door. The blue door swung open and there stood Jack, his back to the door, a mild rock song she did not recognize echoed around the deck. Ianto was standing there butt naked and the Doctor was carefully looking over some cards on the far side of the dash.

"Oh good, you're awake. I was starting to get worried." The Doctor said, placing his cards face down.

"Its not what it looks like." Ianto blurted out, shuffling behind one of the chairs.

The stark contrast of the main deck to when Donna had last traveled in it was clear. White walls, an almost industrial perfection, had replaced the organic form she had remembered. Several seats sat around the central console and Jack had stationed himself at one.

"Oh come off it Ianto, it's exactly what it looks like. You lost the last hand it's your own fault."

"Yeah, I lost, but only because you cheated!"

"I did not cheat, besides who could resist looking at your nice…"

"Hey, hey, hey, language, though it is nice and round isn't it?" The Doctor winked at Donna who came further into the TARDIS.

"You've changed it, you've changed it, how am I supposed to find my way around here now, space-boy?"

"Oh, it's the same, just a theme change. Of course you've changed yourself, haven't you. Looked in a mirror lately?"

The Doctor grinned and pointed to a particularly reflective console screen. Donna strode to it and peered in. Her eyes raced over the screen gathering a glimpse of her self with just the right angle she saw her red hair was gone, replaced by jet black Welsh hair. Her face had narrowed and her teeth were slightly crooked in the front. She was shorter, thinner, and the thrum of two hearts beating just out of sync rushed through her.

"What's happened to me?"

"You've regenerated." Jack said as he dropped a card to the console. "You looking to anty-up?"

The Doctor shook his head and tapped the console confirming he was going to check.

"Can you remember anything Donna?"

A few brief glimpse of what happened traipsed through her head; the clothing store, the slipping and hitting her head, even the brief use of telekinetics on the ambulance driver to get to Torchwood, and the quick reprogramming of the laser screwdriver. It all flashed before her eyes and she nodded.

"Good, then you'll remember that you remembered me then too. Sent out a message which I got. Clever that bit."

The Doctor pulled out his psychic paper and flipped it open to reveal a message "Bad Wolf Doctor Donna"

"It was enough for me to figure out to come here. What is interesting, though, is how did you target me? You must have realized sending out a signal through out all of time and space would have been dangerous."

"I…uh…wrote a program to target and track all TARDIS movement in the local region of space. Used the satellites to track the positions on Earth and then sent a signal with the manipulator right to you."

"Brilliant…" Jack, who laid out four aces on to the console, interrupted the Doctor.

"You know the drill, off with it."

The Doctor blushed as he took off his shirt, and then his pants. The red heart boxers were a stark contrast to the brown shoes and socks he wore.

Ianto smirked as he went to put his clothes back on, "I'm not the only one who loses to Jack. Even a Time Lord can fall prey it seems."

Donna smirked, it was all too much to take in. Too perfect, too Doctor-ish to be true.

A bright light came out of nowhere and in the distance the Doctor's voice echoed.

"_Donna…Donna…hello Donna, wakie wakie eggs and bakie…err that came out wrong. Sounded too Dutch…got to love the Dutch though, clogs, make great…"_

"What are you jabbering on about now?" Donna pushed her self up, "Oh my head!"

"You took a hard fall. If I had to guess the regeneration you instituted by the gene manipulation with the laser screwdriver caused a slight problem. It does that some times."

The Doctor held out the now semi-melted laser screwdriver.

"There's no going back now Donna Noble. You're permanently changed. But you can travel with me if you want."

"I've regenerated? The screwdriver idea worked, but does that mean I look, you know, different?"

The Doctor nodded, giving her that look of simple acknowledgement and held out a mirror. As she looked at her self, a silent sad look, he continued.

"Your parents won't recognize you, none of your friends will know who you are. You'll need a new identity."

"A new identity…" She looked into the mirror again before placing it down on the bed.

"You knew this was going to happen, didn't you? You knew that it was one or the other, a life with you, or with them."

"I couldn't let you abandon your family, not so readily."

"So what do I tell them? What do I tell my friends?"

The Doctor pushed off the wall where he had stood, Jack leaned in a plate of bacon freshly fried, still sizzling.

"We could always retcon them."

"Jack, no. Donna Noble, bright smart, Donna Noble. You, you will have to live on. As I said you can come with me, say goodbye to your grandfather, your mother."

"Finally, a companion for you to live with for the rest of time with." Donna whispered.

"Finally." Said the Doctor.


	3. Part IV

**Part IV: Homecoming**

"What should be my name then?" Donna said as she and the Doctor rummaged around the TARDIS for a spare set of clothes that would fit her.

"I mean if I can't be Donna, then who?"

"That's for you to decide. You're a Timelord now, you can choose whatever name you want. Ah Ha!" The Doctor yanked open a chest to reveal some very old clothing.

"That, you want me to where that?"

"Why not, its vintage, and the forties are coming back."

"Why can't you just put some money on a credit card and let me go shopping?"

"Oh yes, and while you're at it, you can get arrested without ID, license, bank account. That ever occur to you?" The Doctor with drew from the trunk a knee length skirt that was slightly faded black, and a frilled blouse that looked as though it had seen better days.

"There ought to be some shoes around there somewhere."

Pilling item after item out of the trunk he finally withdrew a pair of heels. They were leather, at one time, and were quite ragged.

"I am not wearing those. They're ugly and dirty, and…oh my god…" As she picked the shoe up a dead toe fell from its place and landed on the grated floor.

"I was meaning to clean this out some time ago. Can't blame me forgetting about it."

"Right, I am going shopping!" With that Donna dropped the shoes and walked out of the TARDIS.

Ianto sat facing the computer as Donna walked past. "You know," he said, "if you need cash we could probably provide something."

"Where's Jack?"

"Uh…right, taking care of a weevil in Bute Park, I'm sure he'll be back soon." Ianto leaned back in the chair looking over his shoulder. "Hey where are you going?"

"Shopping, you said something about cash right? Well come on pretty boy I need to get some clothes." Donna dashed through the open entrance as Ianto fell backward just catching himself.

The sea air washed over Donna's face, the boardwalk was wet from the mist and the birds rang out calling back and forth. It was as if the world lit up to her. The possibilities endless and the movement unbounded, the world of potential lay before her.

"So this is what he meant, just everything every possibility at the forefront."

Ianto caught up to her slipping his coat over his shoulders. "Ok, so the Queen's centre is just north of here."

"Queen's centre…hmm, right off we go then, chop-chop."

Ianto pulled the car around and a few minutes later they arrived at Queen's Shopping Centre. Working Street was crowded and the only available parking seemed blocks away.

"Here, take the cash there's two hundred quid there. I'll find a parking spot and meet you in New Look."

Donna nodded and took the money. She strolled in waving to Ianto who sped down the street and turned the corner onto Queen's Street. She had never shopped at Queen's Centre but had heard of it. The place was pretty crowded for the time of day and sale signs were everywhere. Some store she had never heard, the Plar was on her left, the windows were blackened and a sign "coming soon" was pinned up on the door. On the right was Halifax which was the only hushed place it seemed. Walking down the hallway the small map with the list of stories on the first level indicated that New Look was just to the left and opposite the exit to St. David's Centre. She finally made her way to the store where she found her self engulfed into a crowd for the March Madness three day sale. Weaving in and out she found her way to the women's department where Ianto was already looking at clothes. Several garments where slung over his arm.

"There you are! I've picked out some pieces I think you'd like. They're more shapely."

"Who are you then my fashion consultant?"

"Consultant, liaison, take your pick." He handed out a handful and pointed towards the dressing rooms. "Go try these on."

Donna took the clothes and headed off to try them on. It was strange to be doing what someone else told her too, everything was strange. She came out with the first dress on, it was a satin floral cloth that was cut just so her brazier was peeking out.

"No, no. The girls are staying in as far as I'm concerned."

"I agree," Ianto said as he handed her another pair of slacks, "try the suit on next."

It took a little getting used to but the suit, a broad pin stripe that was accented by a white laced blouse, worked. He handed her a pair of pumps to match, dark lace-up ankles with just a bit of toe showing.

"All you need now is a jacket. Something to bring just incase." It was not long before they finally made their way to the women's outerwear department, where Ianto pulled down a stunning, if not classic, button up coat with funnel neck mac.

"So what's the damage?"

"Uh, one eighty nine by my count, if you subtract for the sales on the coat and pumps."

"Fabulous…" Donna twirled a bit stopping before a mirror. The face that looked back at her was not the one she had seen earlier. Not the dark haired woman she saw in the hand mirror. It was too familiar, too unreal.

"Ianto, have I looked like this long?"

"Since you regenerated as I recall."

"The Doctor must have known. There is no way this is coincidence."

"What is? What did he know?" Ianto followed after Donna as she went back into the changing rooms to gather what was left of her things.

"I look like someone who is dead. Someone who I shouldn't be."

"Who?"

"River Song…"

***

They returned to the Hub where Donna found Jack talking to the Doctor.

"Why didn't you tell me, why didn't you show me?"

"Show you what?" The Doctor looked surprised and stunned at the new look Donna carried.

"I'm River Song space boy!'

"Oh…that, well it wasn't really avoidable. We never know what we'll look like. First human meta-crisis regeneration…I mean look at you all beautiful."

"Doctor, who's this River Song?" Jack looked confused.

"That's a story for a different time Jack."

"No Tell him Doctor."

"Donna, there is no going back. Time is in flux, around you. You chose this, you chose to look like her, to be her. And now we need to go talk to your mother and grandfather."

"All right space boy, lets go. But if I have to tell them that I die in that library then you better think again."


	4. Part V

Part V: The Long Procession of Annoyances.

Donna stuck her arm out the back seat window of the black Landrover that was emblazoned by Torchwood. The Doctor sat next to her pondering over the gadgets and the computer setup in the back. The conventional method of travel was not his idea of fun, as he twiddled about. Gwen was driving and Ianto sat in the passenger seat counting the minutes until they arrived at the London area.

"So what do we call you now? Donna or River?" Ianto spoke, his hands sort of rubbing against his thighs like an agitated school boy.

"Donna is fine…"

"Right…well, obviously." The Doctor pushed a button making the computer console pull forward and over him. "Let's have a look at what old Jack is hiding."

"You do realize he's older than you now, right? That Jack of ours," Gwen said at a glance to the back, "He's almost what three thousand years old now give or take a century."

"Yes, but, he was buried for two thousand of those years at least…" The Doctor squinted at the computer screen before pointing his sonic screwdriver at it.

"Gwen?" Donna prodded, "You and Jack, are you, you know…"

"Us? No, I'm married after all." Gwen signaled and went into the far left lane to make their exit. "Besides, Jack is, is, well with Ianto I suppose…"

Ianto blushed at this and went back to rubbing his thighs.

"Go on then, what's the problem?" Donna leaned up to get a better look at him.

"I really have to use the W.C."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Gwen looked exasperated at him, "We could have turned off at the last pit stop about two miles ago."

"I thought I could hold it, who'd have thought that that last cup of tea would have gone right through me."

"This is interesting, Donna you may want to look at this." The Doctor pulled the screen around so Donna could see, the blueprints for a sonic screwdriver were registered in blipping across the screen, with different settings being pointed out by the interactive program every few seconds.

"Ah now that is a beauty, look at it, gorgeous. Those are the red settings that River spoke of."

"Yes and they give me an idea. When we get back to the TARDIS I'll have to do some digging to fix this old friend up."

"Or I could make one." Donna smirked, "Look it was designed by a person, Tashiko…something."

Both Ianto and Gwen grimaced at the name, but it was Ianto who spoke. "She died saving Cardiff and London. So did Owen."

"Well Owen died before hand and Jack went and used the other gauntlet. Brought him back to life and Death was released. Horrid week," said Gwen as she turned again and pulled into a gas station, "Weevils were following us, and then he went and stopped a nuclear melt down from happening."

"I'll be right back." Ianto pushed open the door and rushed to the building.

"Death actually came here?" Donna gawked and the Doctor frowned.

"Death, like the Reaper? What's this gauntlet you're talking about?"

"When I first met Jack there was this gauntlet which could transfer life from one person to another. It never worked for Jack but for the rest of us it did. At first we only thought it was limited to two minutes. It's actually how I met Jack the first time. He and everyone else were testing it on a recent murder victim. Later Suzie was brought back by me using the glove to help find a piece of this missing technology, which turned out to be a part of Suzie's plan all along to be brought back. Jack destroyed it and we all thought it ended there, but…"

"But Jack didn't tell you the gauntlet had a brother. Blackened, with a symbol on the lower steel pallet." The Doctor shook his head, "Jack Jack Jack…why did you use that."

"I know right? Apparently one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse was released, Hunger. It started to kill anyone near death."

"And where is the gauntlet now?" Donna looked to Gwen, her mind was reeling with the thoughts the Doctor was having, all of them flooding in. She glanced at him and he nodded back to her.

"Last I knew of it Jack destroyed it as well."

"That's not what the inventory of his personal safe says. It's blinking right there profusely on the screen." The Doctor twisted the screen around so Gwen could see it. The outline of the gauntlet was glowing brightly.

"How did you do that, how is it glowing like that?"

Donna answered, "It's a reconfiguration of the internal sensors of Torchwood. The energy there is building up and I bet it has something to do with Jack being the impossible man he is."

"Time to find out, you go on ahead Donna, talk to your family, explain what happened. I'll go and have a chat with Jack."

Gwen looked puzzled, "Do you know what it is? Where it came from? And you may as well come with us you can't get back anyways."

"Yes, yes, and no I can, to answer your questions." The Doctor pointed the sonic screwdriver at the screen and a few moments later the whir of the TARDIS appeared behind them. Ianto came out of the bathroom which was situated on the side of the building just in time to step into the middle of the materializing TARDIS. Moments later the door swung open and Ianto flew out landing on his backside quite abruptly.

"She doesn't like you, if I had to guess." The Doctor entered the TARDIS and before Ianto could say another word the door was shut and the whirring had gone and the space the TARDIS had occupied was vacant again.

The ride into London took nearly forty-five more minutes and then another twenty to get to Donna's parent's house. Light drizzle splattered the sidewalk in wet fine mist and small coagulated droplets, just so that the small amount of sun that did shine through could make a rainbow over the hill where Donna's Grandfather stargazed.

"Time to get this over with." Donna climbed out of the car, following Ianto and Gwen to the front stoop.

"Now keep in mind my mother can be…uh…yeah you get the idea and my Grandfather shouldn't have a problem understanding what's happened. He has met the Doctor."

"Ok, let's go in and put on a smiling face." Gwen smirked and rang the bell. A gruff voice came in an incoherent mumble, "yeah. yes who is it? I'm coming, coming…" The door creaked open and there was Donna's grandfather hunched over and scruffy as usual.

"Yes, who is it then, spit it out."

"Uh…" Donna looked stone faced as Gwen started. "I am officer Gwen Cooper and this is my associate Ianto Jones we're from Torchwood."

"Torchwood, eh? Come here about Donna have you, well she's gone. Disappeared. I'm betting it was that Doctor who took her, first its taking her memories now this."

"Actually we're here to talk to you about Donna. We've located her, and she is in good health…sort to speak."

"All right come in then, quit standing around in the rain." He back-peddled and left the door open to sit down in his favorite chair. Gwen, Ianto, and Donna followed after, shutting the door behind them.

"Mr. Noble, Donna, if you recall had her memories erased by the Doctor. Well she regained them and came to us for help."

"Ok, and why has she been gone for nearly a week now?"

"She's been through some changes;" Ianto piped in, "after regaining her memories the only way to stop her death was to make it so she could handle that level of information."

"So what, she's what now, a Time Lord?"

"Yes actually," Donna finally spoke, "Grandfather, it's me, Donna. I've regenerated."

He looked at her; the new smiling face was not his granddaughter. "Regenerated…really? Like those butterflies or something? Is it really you?"

"Yes, I have some how through the process I some how changed completely from who I was physically to this. But it's still me, it's still your little girl who'd sit up on that hill and watch the stars."

"We best not tell your mother though, she'd think you've gone and had plastic surgery, and then we'd be in trouble." The old man smirked and Donna grinned.

"Right we better be off. We've developed a reason for Donna's absence." Gwen handed the folder over and smiled. "It should be sufficient to make her where-abouts less attractive to the attentions of others." Ianto said.

"I love you Donna, don't you forget that or this old man on your wonderful adventures."

"I won't granddad. I won't." Donna waved goodbye to him through the back window of the SUV as he waved back from their modest porch.


	5. Part VI The End

**Part VI an End to a Beginning**

"Goodbye Granddad" Donna whispered as she looked at the Doctor, handcuffed to the floor. She pushed the plugs together sending the whole memory of the computer of the Library into her mind. For a brief moment all was a jumble, then the events that lead to her, there and then, rushed in.

***

"Donna, don't touch that, it's a hypo…"

"..Genius inhibitor, I know. You know you don't have to worn me about everything." Donna smirked as did the Doctor. The planet of Talin was one large outdoor market. Not too long ago they visited Byzantium, before that they had a picnic in Asgard and met the real Loki, and just before they arrived here they had visited the Pantheon, Roman Gods and all.

"So where should we go next Donna? Down the street of Eros Tisia, or how about the 'Earth' lane?"

"They've got an Earth Lane?"

"Yep-ah, a whole bunch of Old Earth artifacts…well more like to you modern Earth. Toothbrushes, scented candles, vacuum cleaners. You should see…Donna?" The Doctor turned around to find Donna curled up on the ground, gold light flickering about her.

"Donna?" He rushed to her side with drawing a newly adapted sonic screwdriver.

"Hold on Donna, don't worry I got you." He pointed the screwdriver at her and started waving it around her shoulders. The golden light retreated back into her after a few moments and a few awkward glances from the other visitors.

"It's getting worse. I can't seem to control it as well as I used too."

"We both knew that what you did was risky Donna. You know there is only one way to stop it from happening."

"I know. I know and I don't care. Doctor I want to be with you forever."

"You'll die."

"I don't care, can't you do something? With all your Time Lord knowledge?"

"Yes, there is." The Doctor whispered as he pulled out a small amount of hypo-genius inhibitor and pressed it to her neck. "I can save you."

Donna blinked before falling unconscious.

The Doctor carried her to the TARDIS, leaving behind Talin.

***

Donna awoke in the curtained hall of a hospital. "Nurse? Nurse, where am I?"

The furry face of a cat turned to Donna, her tail flicking slightly. "You are in New New York Hospice and Care the most advanced treatment facility on New Earth."

"And where's the Doctor?"

"The Doctor will be with you shortly. He is checking his other patients at the moment."

"No, no I mean The Doctor. The Time Lord, Blue Box, TARDIS. Any of this Ring a Bell HELLO?"

"Please calm down miss. I haven't the slightest clue as to what you're talking about. You wondered in here on your own, unaware of who you were, and an insurance card with well over enough to cover your medical needs. Just sit back and we will take care of you."

"I am Donna Noble, human, born on Earth, the original one."

"Now, now dear, you're River Song, said so on your card. Born right here in New New York. You're even a graduate in…" The nurse checked her electronic pad, "archaeology, apparently on old Earth culture. That must be what is confusing you dear."

_The days were long and hard adjusting to that world you left me on, but I never stopped searching. When I left that hospital I found only two things, the screwdriver and a note. "I will always love you Donna Noble, you know what's in the screwdriver. If you ever need me, just say my name…" _

Three Years later

"Hello Donna" A white haired old man stood before Donna at her apartment, "Want one more ride?"

_That day we went to Darillium to see the Singing Towers and they were beautiful. You whispered in my ear, you whispered in my ear…took from me the sonic screwdriver and gave me yours. Red settings you said, more powerful. _

"I knew he would save me, I had already lived through it that is how I am here, now with you; in this library with every imaginable adventure just waiting to happen."

**********

This is the end of Donna's Awakening I hope you enjoyed it. If you liked this fan fiction, then check out my other stories on .


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